Feminist reading recommendations

[MoltenLasagne]

I want to start reading more feminist books and I'm setting myself an aim to read one a month next year. What would people recommend to add to a not-quite introductory reading list?

I've read Cordelia Fine but nothing else and whilst I'm not scared of working at books I don't want anything massively hard work. What would you advise for a good starter for 10?

ooh, I'd be interested in this! I have to admit, I bought The Female Eunuch and the type was so dense it completely put me off!

I literally just bought two feminist books from an independent book shop today, OP.

I asked for primers on second wave feminism, specifically, and walked out with

Feminism, by Deborah Cameron
and
Reclaiming Feminism: Challenging Everyday Misogyny by Miriam E. David

I'm excited to get stuck in.

Not just me then! Yes I'd definitely like some second wave knowledge, but like you said River I'm a bit put off by wading through literary treacle.

There's a great book of essays by Gloria Steinem called Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. It's a really entertaining and engaging read, but also very eloquent about women's oppression.

I'm reading Millicent Fawcett's books on the suffragist campaign - they're good.

And Jeanette winterson's Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere.

Ooh these are fab - thank you. I may start with the essays as I find them a little bit easier than trying a whole book.

Some very good links to online free downloads of helpful texts in this recent thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3440511-where-to-start

Thanks for starting this thread, I've been meaning to ask too!

These three are on my reading list so far:

1. Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective by Sheila Jeffreys
2. Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics' War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights by Ruth Barrett
3. Gender Hurts by Sheila Jeffreys

Started The Female Eunuch but not got far in yet.

1) Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective by Sheila Jeffreys

The link to a download of this is on the other thread - maybe 2) as well.

Thanks arran I hadn't realised there was recommendations on there

radfem.org/
Free downloads, lots of Dworkin

Oh I'm making notes here, I read feminist stuff back in the seventies and eighties until I was intimidated by the arrival of those obscure french women like Irigaray, and recently I've been getting back to it. Books I remember making an impact on me then were the more approachable, less theoretical stuff like Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller and Fat is a Feminist Issue . Also a science fiction book, Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy which features a feminist utopia. Also Sheila Rowbotham for history.

On a similar note, does anyone have any recommendations for recent feminist books?

Can I just say, the generosity of women allowing their work to be downloaded for free amazes me.

Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather - details the surprising parallels between the suffrage movement and the birth of the RSPB, of all things. Really fascinating look at the politicking, campaign tactics, and growth of different kinds of women into leaders, as well as the interplay of class from mill girls right up to the Queen. And the development of the anti-suffrage campaign, too, which I defy anyone to read about and not recognise the same tactics in play today.

If your library has BorrowBox, the audiobook is really well done.